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madame president in menopause

the top things to know in women’s health and wellness today:

  • It’s not just reproductive rights that are (further) at risk if Donald Trump returns to the White House. Check out this deep dive from Molly Jong-Fast on the threat against no-fault divorce–which helped cut the female suicide rate in half in the 70s and 80s. 
     
  • OBGYN Jen Ashton points out that if VP Kamala Harris wins the White House in November, she will be one of many firsts–including out first (likely) menopausal president
     
  • They didn’t plan it ahead, but it’s still rare enough to notice: an all-female surgical team completed a heart transplant surgery at UCSF in December. 

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Everything
Fertility
Abortion Access
Menopause
Cardiovascular

TOP STORIES TODAY: the most important reads we’ve found, and why they matter.

EVERYTHING

Trump + Cronies Coming for Legal Rights Beyond Abortion

What: Writer Molly Jong-Fast explains in one article how “from abortion to birth control to no-fault divorce, female autonomy could be utterly demolished if Donald Trump returns to power.”

Why it matters: “Republicans haven’t just limited themselves to reproductive rights; they are also coming for women’s legal rights. Consider the Republican bid to end no-fault divorce—something that was signed into law by Ronald Reagan way back in 1969, when he was the governor of California. After other states enacted similar legislation, The Guardian reports, the results were both immediate and striking: ‘Between 1976 and 1985, states that passed the laws saw their domestic violence rates against men and women fall by about 30%; the number of women murdered by an intimate partner declined by 10%; and female suicide rates declined by 8 to 16%.’”

Source: Vanity Fair

FERTILITY

Getting the Details on AMH Test Cuts Use

What:  A study tested how much women wanted AMH hormone blood tests to measure their fertility after they learned the test “doesn’t judge the quality of those eggs, and it cannot reliably predict a woman’s chances of conceiving or their approaching age of menopause, they added.”

Why it matters: “’Women who viewed the evidence-based information had a more accurate understanding of what the test could tell them,’ [researcher Tessa] Copp added. ‘They also saw it as a less valuable test and were less interested, on average, in discussing it with their doctor or getting tested, compared to the control group.’”

Source: UPI

ABORTION ACCESS

Iowa Effectively Bans Abortion, Proper Miscarriage Care

What: Iowa became the fourth state in the US to ban abortions after around six weeks of pregnancy. That is an effective total ban on abortion, as the earliest you can know you are pregnant is around 4 weeks, and only then if you have a very regular menstrual cycle.

Why it matters:  Women in the state who need an abortion to save their own lives (for example, if they are miscarrying and at risk for infection) may not find doctors will treat them.

Source: NBC

MENOPAUSE

Our First Menopausal President

What: OBGYN Jennifer Ashton points out that should VP Kamala Harris win the White House this fall, she’ll make history as a lot of “firsts.” Including “most likely the first president in menopause.”

Why it matters: “And in choosing to share her status as a menopausal woman, Harris would be providing a moment of public service both for other people undergoing ‘the change,’ and for society more broadly to learn about the menopause in a non-stigmatized manner.”

Source: Daily Beast

CARDIOVASCULAR

All Women Team Completes Heart Transplant

What: As Dr. Amy Fielder, a cardiac surgeon, stitched up her patient at the end of a heart transplant surgery UC San Francisco last December, she realized something unusual: the entire surgical team was female, including the anesthesiologist, residents, and nurses.

Why it matters: That it was a notable event (and it was!) shows how far medicine has come, but also how far it has to go. Especially in cardiac care.

Source: ABC News